Journal of Climate Change, Disaster Risk and Resilience Studies
The Variscan Orogen in the âSouttoufidesâ Belt: Southwestern North Africa
Abstract
Michel Villeneuve, Omar Guillou, Andreas Gartner, Abdelkrim El Archi, Mohsine Aghzer and Nasrrddine Youbi
The “Souttoufide belt” which extends from the northern Anti-Atlas fault (TZTF) to the southern Reguibat shield consists in the amalgamation of three different belts: Mauritanides to the East, Western Thrust belt (WTB) in the middle and some parts of the Appalachians, to the West. In West Africa, the Hercynian Front Thrust (HFT) is extended from the Anti-Atlas to the Southern Senegal and Northern Bissau- Guinea. This “Souttoufide belt” was first investigated by Spanish geologists to the south and by French and Moroccan geologists from geological surveys and universities. Three parts of this Souttoufide belt are outcropping: “Plage Blanche” (northern part), “Sekkem-Dhlou belt” (central part) and the “Adrar Souttouf” (or Oulad Dlim) massif (southern part). These parts were studied separately and present different structures. The northern part is limited to a tiny strip. The central part corresponds to a Paleozoic belt thrusted over the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic sediments of the Tindouf basin while the southern part exhibits several Neoproterozoic structures thrusted over a thin paleozoic cover and strongly reworked by the Variscan events. During the last decades numerous radiometric dating and geochemistry data allow us to better constraint the Panafrican and Variscan geodynamic events (Late Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic) specially in the Adrar Souttouf massif and thus, to correlate this Souttoufide belt belts with the adjacent belts.